Polly Scattergood

  Polly Scattergood is a British singer-songwriter from Colchester, Essex, England, UK. She has been described as ethereal, dark, intense and quirky, while her musical style has been described as "early 21st century electro-dance-pop of London proper". Scattergood's debut album, self-titled, was released in spring 2009 in the United Kingdom and United States. It received mixed, but generally positive, reviews.

   Her name Scattergood is her family name. It means "here today, gone tomorrow" or "spendthrift waster".

  
  Scattergood describes herself as a storyteller. "I write about emotions and moments, not all are biographical." 

  Scattergood's debut single entitled "Glory Hallelujah" was released in 2005. Her September 2007 single "Nitrogen Pink" is about the fragility of life and how quickly things come and go. It was written about "a friend of a friend who was really sick from cancer, this young guy who was only 30 and had a great, happy life but was slowly deteriorating". 

 The single "I Hate the Way" which was written on a toy keyboard was released on 22 September 2008 on both limited edition 10 inch vinyl and iTunes. The song has been described as documenting her emotional instability and penchant of going to bed with unsuitable men.

On November 10, 2008 Scattergood was a guest on the Rob Da Bank show where three of her songs were played ("I Hate The Way", "Untitled 27" & "Nitrogen Pink"). Da Bank called her "The Kate Bush of the 21st century". Later that month, on the 28th, she played an acoustic set on the Janice Long show ("I Hate The Way", "Please Don't Touch" & "I've Got A Heart"). When asked about her discovery of music, she replied, "I found a guitar when I was about 12, in the coat cupboard, it had maybe 3 strings on it ... I just taught myself".

   On March 7, 2009 Scattergood gave a live studio session on the BBC Radio 2 Dermot O'Leary show. Her cover version of "Puff, the Magic Dragon" proved to be popular with listeners, introducing many for the first time to the artist.

  Polly Scattergood was released 9 March 2009 in the United Kingdom.and on 19 May in the United States.

  "Other Too Endless" was released as a single from the album on 23 February 2009. It was named "record of the week" on the Steve Lamacq show. The download version features a remix by Vince Clarke who is a member of Erasure, ex Assembly (where he shared the spoils with ex Undertones frontman Feargal Sharkey), ex Yazoo and ex Depeche Mode. iTunes made it 'Single of the Week' on 30 March 2009. "Please Don't Touch" was her second single, released on 4 May 2009. She then re-released "Nitrogen Pink" and released "Bunny Club" as singles.

 

  The lengthy “I Hate The Way” opens the album compellingly, beginning with Scattergood’s whispered, confiding vocals, passing through a strident guitar motif and building to an off-kilter spoken-word coda. “Maybe if I skip my dinner / Make myself pretty and thinner / Maybe then he’ll love me / And stop looking at the other girls”, Scattergood wonders, desperately. 

  Here's her live video for this song, it shows her talented voice, it's amazing to listen to, beautifully...

   The record concludes with Breathe In Breathe Out, a serene piano ballad accented with bird twitters. It is a weary resignation after all the preceding catharsis as Scattergood's voice delicately falters with the lyric "Learn to breathe in/Learn to breathe out/I can't let you go...yet."

   There is something truly magical about Scattergood's debut; it breaks your heart with the delicacy of a heart surgeon. She accomplishes a record akin to a diary of an eighteenth-century woman accused of hysterics and committed to Bedlam. And when you're finished listening, you emerge feeling purified by insanity. For Scattergood, the people she loves are the ones who are here today, gone tomorrow, leaving her naked and impoverished; her only crime is being a spendthrift with her love.

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